The Shadow of the Forgotten Crown

and silent, pressing against his lungs like a burial shroud. Above him, the sky was a g

he th

back jagged like broken teeth. The figure seated upon it was both there and not-a shifting

t sound. It was the absence of it, the silenc

olet cracks beneath his skin

en

s shoulder and ya

ion sha

back into focus. Liora's face was inches

the void-filled eyes-raised a hand, and the air between them ripp

He grabbed Liora

-

olar's

s shoulders scraped stone. Behind them, the cult's chants echoe

his chest. "They've broken another ancho

't slow. "

Maybe

d. "What happens

The Star-Eater wakes. And the first

a dead end. Liora cursed, spinning to face the wa

his palm to the wall. The stone shimmer

crumbling scrolls and artifacts that hummed with dormant power. At its ce

ht. "The Astral Cov

agged shards of crystal. "The keystones," he said. "One

he shards. "And

prison." Orren's voice was grim. "But the

umbled throug

back of the library, t

-

ian of th

f shifting smoke and starlight, its form flickering between a wolf's lea

her blade.

. "No. It won't harm us-no

g onto Kael. Then, with a voice like

own's b

ghtened. "I didn

e ghost of a human face beneath the smoke. "But the choice is yours

he tunnel. The cult w

he shards from the case

But know this, thief-the Star-Eater's hunger is

ar more. He grabbed th

-

Beneath a

self felt wrong-thick and electric, as if before a storm. Bu

ng upward. Some wept. Others simply

"The next anchor is beneath the

had spread to his wrists now, glowin

was steel. "But I won't let th

distance, a bel

warn

di